Kinley, Ava & Miles

I cannot believe my baby is already 3! He is growing like a weed! He is really into superheroes these days and especially The Avengers. Everyday he decides a different one is his favorite, so I had to put these 4 all on the cake. This is going to make buying his Halloween costume ahead of time a little tricky.

While making his invitations, he told me he wanted to be Captain America (whew! The Hulk would have been a bit more challenging, even on Photoshop!!) He saw this and asked me, "Did you put that on my face?", not did you put my face on that. Cute.

A rare pensive, still moment for him.

My precious birthday boy!

Blowing out his candle!

Opening gifts.

Thor. Notice the hammer has sustained its share of battle scars.

Ava is always wanting to help him, teach him, boss him around, you name it. But, what are big sister for anyway?

Happy boy!

Sweet, sweet girl!

Riding the train at the Zoo. I swear it hasn't changed A BIT since I was their age. Honestly, it hasn't.

Miles' party at school with his teacher, Ms. Jamie, and his friends.

Being silly with their kids meal glasses at Wendys!

Ava's rendition of Me and Brad. I guess she does remember me with blonde hair!

Ava making up songs and singing them for us. She does this a lot in the car and shower too. It's very revealing, as she just sings what she is thinking or what has happened to her that day.

Ava's first day of PreK4 Transition!

Gift we made for the teacher's lounge on the first day of school.

Ava is writing ALL the time. She loves learning to spell new words. She then uses them to text the crap out of all of us!

Miles pretending to be "Puss in Boots" coming to Save the Day! I love how he puts his ever-present sword down his pants so he can pull it out and run save the day by "fighting the bad guys"!

Ava is not the only one who likes to dress up around here! Super heroes rule!

Going to have cupcakes after playing at Wonder Place with their buddies David and Daniel!

Ever since seeing Disney's Brave, Ava has been obsessed with shooting bows and arrows WHILE riding a horse. And Miles has become obsessed with fighting the demon bear Mor'du. In the movie Mor'du eats King Fergus' leg and he acts this part out as well. Pretty funny to watch as he tries to convince me that it has just happened to him. Then I have to watch him slay the demon bear over and over.

Scarlett sitting with Ava while she is doing her "homework" at her art desk. Recently in carpool, Ava's art teacher, Ms. Meme, came out to the car to tell me how much she enjoys having Ava in art class and told me that Ava is truly very talented in art. This was so nice to hear since she spends SO much time drawing, painting, writing, etc. It is her favorite activity!

Miles taking care of a sick horse in the vet office at Wonder Place. He loves horses and always has. I have NO idea where this comes from. I also have no idea why he is wearing a hard hat in this picture!

Ava, in her waitress attire in the "kitchen" at Wonder Place. Not real sure what Miles is cooking up under there.

Ava and Miles playing on the playground across from Mamo Blair's house (now Uncle Bill's house) on the playground that my brother and I used to play on. This airplane is new, but all the rest of the equipment is EXACTLY the same as it was when I was little!

The kids share a room and they usually talk and laugh together before they go to sleep. Once it gets quiet in there, I go in and turn off their stars, moon, music and any flashlights or lanterns that are still turned on. This particular night, I found them lying in the middle of their floor in their sleeping bags!

Ava always wants to try on my glasses, so one day shopping at Claire's at the mall, they had "pretend" glasses for little girls. I grabbed a pair so she could have them to play with and she loves them. She also happens to look pretty darn cute in them!

Miles "fighting" with Daddy before bed. My favorite part of this video is Miles hanging upside down on Brad's arm, yelling, "I got him Mommy!!".

Some nights I go in to turn off all their stuff and find them both in one of their beds, sleeping like little angels!

Most nights, of course, they are asleep in their own beds, but the nights that they aren't, I can't help but take a picture of them. If only to remind them one day when they are older how sweet they can be to one another.

Miles, with a bow and arrow down his pants. I guess he is just going to whip that bow out and start shooting whenever he feels threatened? Scooby Do crocs on wrong feet....check!

Ava with her girlfriend Lily at their friend Anabels's birthday party.

Ava with Anabel. Anabel has on the wig that Ava wore to the party and is also wearing the apron Ava gave her as part of her birthday gift.

Ava as Merida (from Brave) with Anabel. (again, with the bow and arrows)

My best girl in the whole world! I love her more than words can ever say!

Princess Belle came to the party and the girls love it!

Ava with Princess Belle. (looks like Belle went blonde on us. LOL)

Tea party with Belle at Anabel's.

Princess Merida with her triplet brothers (who were turned into bears).

Target practice in the garage with their bows and arrows.

Captain Miles at Wonder Place. Yes, we get in the car with him soaking wet AND covered in sand each time we go.

Ava showing Grandmother video's of Disney's Brave on Youtube and then explaining the story in great detail. It's a good thing Grandmother doesn't hear as well as she used to. It was a very long story when told by Ava! (she comes by it honest though.)

Ava's artwork on the playground this summer at school.

See, I DO feed him. In fact, he is ambidextrous when it comes to eating! It helps him shovel food in twice as fast. Yogurt, applesauce, yogurt, applesauce, etc.

Sweet friend Heather at Miles' birthday party.

Mommy and Ava at Miles' birthday party. I love this girl!

Brad rough housing with the kids. Miles has NO FEAR whatsoever. He leaps with reckless abandon and I guess just assumes that someone/something will catch him and his fall?

I love to watch him run!

Rare shot of me with both kids. Usually I am either taking the picture or can only get one of them to take a picture with me. We took these for the book that Ava and I wrote. We decided to use pictures instead of drawing all of the illustrations, since we would like to have it finished this year in time for her birthday.

First day of school 2012! Ava started PreK4 Transition with Ms. Kristin and Miles started PreK3 with Ms. Jamie.

Ava drawing on the playground at the popsicle party the day before school started. It was a lot of fun meeting some of the new children and meeting the new parents. It was also nice visiting with the families that we knew from last year. The kids were able to go see their new rooms, meet their teachers, etc.

"Hanging" out with one of her girlfriends on the playground.

Miles hiding in the playhouse. He stinks at hide and seek, as he keeps yelling, "I'm in here!"and laughing uncontrollably.

Teacher gifts we made for the first day of school. Ava had Ms. Jamie last year, so we knew that she gives the kids a skittle whenever they help clean up or take a nap. We etched a "J" onto the jar and decorated the lid. It turned out pretty cute.

We made Ms. Kristin a Boo Boo Box and filled it with band aids, neosporin spray, kleenex and chocolate. We painted the outside with chalkboard paint so she can write anything she wants on the sides of it. Then we made up a little poem for the front. We had so much fun making teacher gifts this year!

More JumpZone pictures! The kids can't get enough of this place. It is next to impossible to get them out of there. But on the flip side, they go to bed earlier and without drama!

OK, so they aren't the only ones who like JumpZone.

Kinley's 14th Birthday cake. She had a movie-themed birthday party. Brad built an outdoor theater with refreshment cart and Kinley and her friends had a blast.

Our Hearts!

Kinley's 14th Birthday! She has literally blossomed into a young lady overnight. She isn't a little girl anymore. (sigh)

"The girls" posing for a Facebook post!

They couldn't watch the outdoor movie until dark, so we had games for them to play to keep them entertained until then. And then Papa decided to entertain them with his dance "moves". Let's just say they won't be using those at Homecoming!

The girls after digging for gummy worms in a plate full of whip cream without using their hands!

This picture didn't end well... Ava was the queen of the water balloons!

Digging for gummy worms....the hard way.

Water balloon princess!

Miles helping the girls out with a game where each team relayed taking one cooked spaghetti noodle at a time down the yard to an empty coke bottle. The first team to fill the bottle won. LONG game!

Cousin Ashley's turn trying to get the spaghetti noodle into the coke bottle.

Refreshment cart (hanging out inside so the candy wouldn't melt!) before the movie!

The morning after. Girls EVERYWHERE. Getting them up would have been hard if it wasn't for Ava and Miles helping us out. :)

Annual sibling visit. We look forward to it every summer. Maddie Rae comes to visit from California (she has other family here) and Chase comes down from NW Arkansas. They are all getting so big!

The siblings and their proud Mommas! Trying to get a picture with the three of them looking at the camera smiling was not exactly the part we were proud of! HA!

Maddie Rae, Ava and Chase!

Looks like they are ready to start their own band!

Rainbow cake!

Just hanging out having fun in the backyard.

The girls are so much bigger in the car they they looked driving it together this time last year! Either that or the car has shrunk!

He is looking more and more like a little boy and less like a toddler. :(

Proud of his picture he drew for Momma.

For some reason, when he watches a movie, he feels the need to be someplace high up on a "perch".

Fourth of July pictures taken at the Old Mill!

I used to play here ALL the time as a child. It was just a short bike ride from my house and back then you just went where you wanted until the streetlights came on and then you headed for home. It's such a shame that our kids won't be allowed to enjoy those simple freedoms.

When the heat was oppressive this summer I bought this house and castle at WalGreens for $5 each! The kids have had the best time playing in them and coloring them! Thank you WalGreens!

With their bike helmets and pads on to go on a bike parade at the school this summer!

Ava showing me how she can swim underwater without help. She was so proud of herself!

Pito's Father's Day/Birthday gift from the kid made with their footprints/handprints.

Random pictures from the kids playing in the backyard.

Ava and Lily at school on the playground.

She still loves her buddy Owen!!

Angels!

A rare moment when I was worried about how quiet they were. This is how I found them--reading in the book nook.

Sweet Kinley (wearing a shirt that is dear to my heart!)

Visiting Granny. We love her so much! It is always so sweet to see her eyes light up when the kids come visit her. The kids love going to see her!

Did I mention that he likes to dress up too? Cute little booger!

Our assigned snack for school this summer was during "Plant week". They learned all about plants and they each painted a flower pot and planted a flower. So we decided to make flowers out of fruit for their snack. We used honeydew melons, cantaloupes and cherries.